A Further Exploration of Filth
This an outline of the 1st anniversery game of the Gauntlet Pathfinder One Shot Campaign. It was run by lead storyteller Toby on Starday the 12th of Abadius. It's been 12 moons since are band of inexperience adventurers arrived in Grey seeking fame and fortune, chasing the crash of the Mana Crystal to Erthoria . Their mighty quest didn't begin with a Goblin raid or delving into the dungeons of a mad wizard, no their journey began with a trip to the local sewer at the advice of a drunkard. It was a success though, they defeated some rats, bested an Otyugh and reclaimed some Mana Crystals. Tonight, the anniversary of that exploration of filth finds the same (now well seasoned) adventurers sitting in the One Eared Bugbear Tavern , just like they did a year ago. Tonight they celebrate, drink deeply and celebrate life and adventure. They've come along way and accomplished a lot. There have been a few loose ends of course, and one that keeps cropping up (in jest) is the Mana Crystal left behind in that very first adventure in the sewers beneath the city (1 ). "We should go back down into the sewers and get that Mana Crystal, just for a laugh!" one of you cries. "Thath wood-un be sush a great idea" comes the mysterious and slurred reply from the bar. You look up as the figured turns and almost falls overs, a familiar face that you can't quite place. "Sinsh the whole world went to 'ell 'n' back it ain't the same down there no more. *BURP*" continues the drunk. Benny! It returns to you now. This is the same drunk who tipped you off about the Mana Crystals and sent you down to the sewers in the first place. The drunk staggers over to your table and peers at you. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. It's you. I remember you lot. Now your are all grown up and in-im-im-special." Players can dialogue and ask Benny questions at this point. He's has considerable success at finding Mana Crystals in the sewers. His original plan was to get out of Grey but he ended up pissing most of his riches up against an alley wall. He's nearly flat broke again. When asked specifically about the sewers Benny explains that since the 'Calamity' the rats fled the sewers and stranger, meaner things moved in. All sorts of strange noises too. His last trip down there earnt a nasty wound for his trouble, lifting his shirt reveals several deep claw marks raked across his torso. He didn't get a good look at what caused it, he just turned tail and ran for his life. He comments that the players are now heroes of renown and perhaps they should go down there and do something about it, before one of those nasties decides to come up to the surface and chew some poor kids face off. While they are down there, why don't they find his prized silver hip flask that he dropped as he tactically retreated? 1) Sewer Entrance It's been a year since you stood here, down by the docks, peering into the gloomy entrance of the local sewer. Murky water trickles between your feet along the floor, dropping over the lip of the pipe and splashing into the bay not more than ten feet below. The pungent stench of raw sewage and sea water from the bay blend to create that wonderful fragrance you where hoping not to have to smell again. The brick walls are coated with slimy mildew and other fungus looking growth. Moisture drips down the walls and from the grimy ceiling creating a constant dripping noise that echoes throughout the tunnels. The filthy water is little more than ankle high at this point, and while thoroughly unpleasant, does not offer any hindrance to your movement. Further down the passage you can see a vaguely familiar shaft of light piercing the gloom. 2) Sewage Pool A beam of light shines into this room from a gutter drain higher up in the ceiling. It illuminates the pooling room. A number of pipes, most of which no bigger than a foot in diameter funnel wastage into a large pool which dominates the centre of this chamber. The infamous slippery brick landing you are standing on runs the circumference of the room and on the other side you see another large tunnel similar to the one you have entered from. Floating in the middle of the pool is the bloated corpse of an Otyugh, perhaps the same one you bested previously? Slippery Edge - Moving around the landing requires a DC 10 Reflex Save for every three squares of movement. Failure results in players falling into the pool. Sewage Pool - The pool is about 3 foot deep and filled with all sorts of chunky goodness (and a dead Otyugh). It's far from hygienic however and anyone entering the pool must risk catching Filth Fever. Otyugh - The creature appears to have a number of deep scratches on it. Disease (Ex) Filth fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 15; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based. 3) Passage A No sounds echo through the sewers and down this passage. An eerie silence has descended upon the area. 4) Old Rats Nest You enter into another room or chamber, not as large as the previous one, and much drier. Peering into the gloomy darkness you can just make out two more passage ways, similar to the one you enter from now. One to the left of you, the other to the right. While the floor is still damp here and the never ender dripping water is still present, there appears to be much less flow through this room. Smack bang in the centre of this room is a large pile of junk and debris. Animal bones are scattered across the floor, probably those of the rats you slew last time you where here. A movement from within the junk pile catches your attention. If the junk pile is disturbed in any way a Bone Golem will erupt from the centre. Golem, Bone This horrific humanoid figure is a mass of bones and skulls tied together with slick ropes of sinew. Bone Golem CR 8 XP 4,800 N Large construct Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0 DEFENSE AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +10 natural, -1 size) hp 90 (11d10+30) Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3 DR 5/adamantine and bludgeoning; Immune construct traits, magic OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee bite +14 (1d8+4), 2 slams +14 (2d6+4) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks bone prison (ranged touch +12) STATISTICS Str 18, Dex 15, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1 Base Atk +11; CMB +16 (+20 disarm or grapple); CMD 28 Feats Improved Initiative SPECIAL ABILITIES Bone Prison (Ex) As a standard action, a bone golem can throw some of its bones at a creature within 30 feet—it must make a ranged touch attack to hit. These bones magically duplicate and form a cage surrounding struck creatures. Each round, the cage makes a combat maneuver check to deal the golem's slam damage, using the golem's CMB. If the check fails, the target is still trapped but takes no damage. The target can escape the grapple normally, or can break out of the bones by dealing 15 points of damage to the prison, which has the same AC, DR, and saves as the bone golem itself. Damage to the prison has no effect on the golem. The golem can only have one bone prison active at a time. If it wishes to create a second one, it (or some other creature) must first destroy the existing one. Immunity to Magic (Ex) A bone golem is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and abilities function differently against the creature, as noted below. Magical effects that heal living creatures slow a bone golem (as the slow spell) for 1d4 rounds (no save). A magical attack that deals negative energy damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the healing would cause the golem to exceed its full normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. A bone golem gets no saving throw against attacks that deal negative energy damage. A raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection spell negates its DR and immunity to magic for 1 minute. TREASURE Amongst the pile of junk the Bone Golem was guarding three Gigantic Mana Crystals (1,500 GP Each) 5) Otyugh Lair You enter into a chamber similar in size to the one you just left. No other exits appear visible, although a number of small pipes poke from the walls around you. The middle of the room is filled with slime, skeletons of various sorts and other partially digested or shat out waste. You recall that this was the lair of an Otyugh, probably the same one floating upside down in the pool of sewage. 6) The (Defunct) Carousel of Filth You excitedly approach this now Legendary room. You recall the large metal spatular slowly rotating in the room, stirring the sewage and the mana crystal resting on the centre column of the whisk, luring, beckoning for you to take it, only to slip and fall the 30 feet into churning sewage. There should be, from memory, a lot of noise coming from this room and as you approach you hear nothing. You soon discover why as you reach the entrance. Sewage no longer appears to be flowing in here, the deep pool of muck has been drained. The large metal blade that once kept the filth moving has been broken, snapped off at the base, it leans, rusting up against the far wall. At the base of the pit, situated in the wall there is a 10 foot square of purple 'light' for lack of a better word. It glows and you don't have to be a magic-user to realize it's some sort of magical portal. There is a rusted ladder on the side of the wall here that leads down to the floor below. It is absolutely unsafe though, and even a cursory glance will reveal this. Even the weight of a Halfling is likely to cause this thing to fall apart. It's a 40 feet drop to the stone bottom of the pit. Once the players decide to enter the portal - "You-You-You Should-You Should Know-Should Know-Know" echoes a familiar and powerful voice from behind you. You turn to see the figure of white light who restored Grey and returned the Goliath to life leaning against the wall (2 ). You are certain he was not there a moment before. "You Should-You Should Know-You Should Know of the Dangers-Should Know of the Danger-of the Dangers" "Before-Before You-Before You Enter-You Enter There-Enter There" TY is happy to answer basic questions: Who are you? I am TY What are you? I am a Storyteller What is a Storyteller? Someone who tells stories Who was the other figure you fought that day? That was BO Who is BO? I am BO. BO is me. We are both halves of the same whole. Where do you come from? Reality What dangers? Where does the portal lead? *Shrug* It's a hole in the story. Could lead anywhere or anytime in the story. PORTAL Once the party enters the portal roll on the table below to find their destination. Once visited scratch it from the list. Re-roll if you get a scratched destination. Use dramatic tension to decide just how long the players get in each location before they are popped back to this part of the story. 1> The Carousel of Filth (Mana Crystal Recovery) - PAST 2> Goblin Cave (First Contact with Spade) - PAST 3> Building of the Fort - PAST 4> Jessica D'Corelean - The Grey Lady - FUTURE 5> Black Dragon Lair (3 )- PAST 6> The Founding of Grey - PAST 7> The Gauntlet Hotel - FUTURE 8> Confrontation with Mondain - FUTURE 9> The Mana Crystal Falls - PAST 10> Office of Alistaire Goodman - PRESENT 1) The Carousel of Filth You step through the portal... And find yourself in the same room, except now you are standing at the top. The room is filled with sewage and the large metal fin creaks and groans and it stews the pot. Resting in the middle of the device is the elusive Mana Crystal. Only a person who is very dexterous should attempt to walk out across the edge of the blade to recover the crystal. Players may of course invent exciting and elaborate new ways to recover the crystal. It's 15 metres to the centre of the device and each meter of movement requires a Acrobatics Check DC 15. Failure results in a Reflex Save DC 15. Failure again results in falling into the churning pool below. Sewage Pool - It's disgusting and it's deep, at least 8 foot. Players with heavy equipment may struggle. This stuff is thicker than water too, and very unpleasant to be in. It's also likely to make anyone who falls in it incredibly sick (Filth Fever). There is a rusted metal ladder against the wall leading back up to the ledge, although players will have a time of it as they are propelled around the room by the large paddle. Disease (Ex) Filth fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 11; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based. The mana crystal in the centre of the room is Medium and worth 100gp. Of course once a player has reached the centre of the room and picked up the shard, they need to get back out again. 2) Goblin Cave You step through the portal... And find yourself in darkness. A ghastly scream erupts from nearby. Those of you with Darkvision look about to find yourself in a cave. A goblin cave. Filled with goblins. One female in particular has just screamed loudly, waking and alerting the others. There are 10 Females and 6 Young in this room. In two round 18 Males are going to enter the room and engage the party. The Males will all fight to the death and the females will fight as long as five or more males are standing, after which they will cower in the corner with their young. One of the young has a medallion of a wolf around his neck. He is spade. 3) Building the Fort You step through the portal... And find yourselves standing on a grassy hill under the noon day sun overlooking a construction site. At the bottom of the steep gravel embankment a stone wall is being erected by strange, dark skinned humans. The wall is circular in shape and in the middle of its circular compound you can see that a low stone structure has been recently completed. More of the dark skinned individuals are bringing up buckets of dirt from within the structure and emptying the contents at the base of the wall to create an earthen ramp. The humans are an ancient race that once lived in the area. They are not immediately hostile towards the party, but the are nervous and would prefer they leave. Players can attempt to use Diplomacy to change their disposition or perhaps by some other means. The humans certainly do not want the party to enter into the stone structure and will immediately become hostile if they do so. Stealth maybe employed to gain entrance or some other means. Inside the low stone structure is a large room containing a number of barrels, crates, sleeping cots, tools and general clutter. In the centre of the floor a hole leads to a cave below. The cave is a pathway to a larger cavern, which in turn is home to a stalegmite that has been cut in half. Resting on the top of the crude altar is a book. The book is locked and extremely magical and extremely evil. 4) Jessica D'Corelean - The Grey Lady You step through the portal... And find yourselves in a well tended garden at night. Soft light from hanging lamps illuminates the area, well tended plants, hedges and lawn indicitive of wealth and status. A stream runs through the centre of the gardens, an arched wooden bridge crossing it. An slim and graceful looking lady wearing expensive and exotic clothes stands on the bridge with her back to you, seemingly lost in contemplation. As soon as the lady become aware of the players she turns. Recognition crossing her face. It is Jessica D'Corelean but older, now in her mid thirties. Her shock and surprise quickly turns to anger (Especially with Hayden's character if he is present). "YOU!" she shouts "I never thought you would have the balls to show your face in Grey again after what you did! GUARDS TO ME!" Jessica draws a particularly wicked looking short blade from within her outfit. This combat shouldn't result in the death of anyone. After the second round a number of heavily armed (and experienced) guards pour into the gardens. 5) Black Dragon Lair You step through the portal... And find yourselves in the middle of chaos. A large black dragon is descending the natural chimney you now find yourself in, it booms "You will pay for slaying my child!". A group of very familiar adventurers vanish from site with a pop on the other side of the lair, complete with the rogue insulting the beast as he vanishes. The enraged mother blasts the area where they once stood with her acid breathe weapon before landing loudly on the pile of gold and jewels. Black Dragon, Adult Adult Black Dragon CR 11 XP 12,800 CE Large dragon (water) Init +5; Senses dragon senses; Perception +24 Aura frightful presence (180 ft., DC 19) DEFENSE AC 28, touch 10, flat-footed 27 (+1 Dex, +18 natural, –1 size) hp 161 (14d12+70) Fort +14, Ref +10, Will +12 DR 5/magic; Immune acid, paralysis, sleep; SR 22 OFFENSE Speed 60 ft., fly 200 ft. (poor), swim 60 ft. Melee bite +21 (2d6+10), 2 claws +20 (1d8+7), 2 wings +15 (1d6+3), tail +15 (1d8+10) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with bite) Special Attacks breath weapon (80-ft. line, DC 22, 12d6 acid), corrupt water Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th) At will—darkness (60-ft. radius) Spells Known (CL 3rd) 1st (6/day)—alarm, mage armor, obscuring mist 0 (at will)—dancing lights, detect magic, mending, message, read magic STATISTICS Str 25, Dex 12, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 14 Base Atk +14; CMB +22; CMD 33 (37 vs. trip) Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Stealth), Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Fly +12, Handle Animal +16, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Perception +24, Spellcraft +19, Stealth +20, Swim +32 Languages Common, Draconic, Giant SPECIAL ABILITIES Corrupt Water (Sp) Once per day an adult or older black dragon can stagnate 10 cubic feet of still water, making it foul and unable to support water-breathing life. The ability spoils liquids containing water. Liquid-based magic items (such as potions) and items in a creature's possession must succeed on a Will save (DC 19) or become ruined. This ability is the equivalent of a 1st-level spell. Its range is 180 ft. Speak with Reptiles (Sp) A young or older black dragon gains the constant spell-like ability to speak with reptiles. This functions as speak with animals, but only with reptilian animals. swamp stride, water breathing Swamp Stride (Ex) A very young or older black dragon can move through bogs and quicksand without penalty at its normal speed. Water Breathing (Ex) A black dragon can breathe underwater indefinitely and can freely use its breath weapon, spells, and other abilities while submerged. Most likely the players will 'pop' back to the portal room before they are slain. IF however they manage to slay the dragon then they most definitely deserve an opportunity to keep some of the dragon horde. 6) The Founding of Grey You step through the portal... And find yourselves on a grassy plains. It's daytime but the sky is heavily overcast and it's clear that a storm is quickly brewing. You look about you, trying to get a fixture on your location. Mountains to the north and south, coastline to the west, a bay by the looks. (Knowledge: Geography - You are standing where the City of Grey should be) Out in the ocean you see a dozen or so ships enter into the bay, large vessels with black flags. Category:Quests